Big Data

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Big Data refers to information that is usually collected from electronic devices which results in data sets that are so large that they cannot be stored and processed using traditional ​​data processing applications. In transport, Big Data sources include Probe ​Data, collected by GPS enabled devices in vehicles such as GPS navigation units, cell phones and vehicle tracking installations.

Probe Data is collected from millions of vehicles, and provides information about average speeds on the road network and Origin - Destination (OD) information about the population. This information is anonymised​ to ensure that information about a specific individual's trips are not available for analysis. This is very valuable for transport planning purposes and to identify traffic incidents such as recurring congestion or a sudden breakdown in flow caused for example by an accident.